If most of the US media went into full meltdown yesterday in the wake of their pet project meeting an ignominious end, you can just imagine the view from afar. Afar in this case being the U.K. The Economist, venerable though it may be, is in full freak out mode at the stupidity of it all. Despite the Churchillian title, they’re shrieking like little schoolgirls a these icky, gullible, gun-obsessed Yank yobs who never fail to demonstrate that they’re too stupid or cowardly to do what’s best for themselves. Then, right there, smack-dab in the middle of their incredulous cri de coeur, they managed to single out one of our friends for special blame attention: The Military Arms Channel‘s Col. Tim Harmsen . . .
Better grab a hanky:
The government decided to do nothing because of the political heft of Wayne LaPierre’s NRA, because of the disproportionate one-man-thirty-votes congressional representation of rural districts, because of the electoral vulnerability of red-state Democratic senators, because of the decision by Republican senators to filibuster this and every Democratic bill, and because of the monomaniacal dedication of guys like this, who on his YouTube channel goes by the name “Sturmgewehre”. In a video that got over 500,000 views, he describes the threat he sees from Ms Feinstein’s legislation:
“That’s where this gets really scary. Rifles, shotguns, and handguns that accept a detachable magazine [with more than 10 rounds] will be banned or classified as assault weapons. That means your Glock, your H&K USP, your Smith & Wesson M&P, your Ruger SR9, your Sig Sauer P226.”
You have to see the wistful, tragic expression that comes into his voice when he contemplates the fate of all these poor, beautiful little guns. It’s touching. One wonders whether there might be a more appropriate recipient of his sympathy.
As for Col. Harmsen, he says he’s “honored for being credited in having a hand in the defeat of (DiFi’s) draconian legislation. I shall wear it as a badge of honor.” And well he should. If not for the “monomaniacal dedication” of Tim and plenty more like him, things could very well have gone differently yesterday. And may still, if the pro-2A side goes back to sleep.
If you believe brainyquote.com, John Kennedy was the brain behind the aphorism that victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan. And that’s probably true. But the Military Arms Channel and Tim Harmsen certainly deserve at least a fair portion of the credit for helping to rally the troops and kill off the assault weapons ban, mag capacity limits and Manchin-Toomey. Hell, he deserves a passel of props if for no other reason than causing the editors of The Economist a fair amount of anguish and maybe even a sleepless night or two.